Road Test
Audi TT 2.0 TDI Quattro
Test date 20 August 2008
Price as tested £26,350
For Styling, high-quality feel to interior, good specification, quiet, powerful engine
Against Inert handling, limited visibility, cramped rear seats, no auto option
Audi has plenty of form when it comes to high-performance diesels; it is already working on a V12 turbodiesel version of the R8 supercar and has three diesel-powered Le Mans victories under its belt courtesy of the R10 TDI.
Audi was one of the first mainstream manufacturers to bring a turbodiesel-powered cabriolet to market with the soft-top A4 back in 2004. The TT TDI is, however, the most overtly sporting diesel road car to come out of Ingolstadt.
Every time we’ve tested the second-generation Audi TT, we’ve come away impressed. When we first road tested the Mk2 we praised the stylish, well built interior and the continuing good looks.
Most of all, however, we were pleasantly surprised by just how well the new car handled. Audi had at last made a TT that handled as well as it looked.
The thirsty and merely adequately powerful V6 engine was less impressive. That was remedied this year with the arrival of the storming 268bhp TTS. That car, especially equipped with a twin-clutch S-Tronic gearbox, was almost a match for the Porsche Cayman.
Now Audi has slotted the latest-generation Volkswagen Group turbodiesel into the TT. The 2.0-litre common-rail unit puts out a reasonable 168bhp and a very healthy TTS-rivalling 258lb ft of torque.
That performance, coupled with the promise of easy 40mpg-plus cruising, could make the diesel TT a seriously tempting proposition for those with an eye on their emissions.
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